


The Last Laugh

by JayEclipse



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Detective Comics (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, At Least Somebody Killed The Joker?, Attempted Murder, Bad Advice, Bad Jokes From The Bad Guy, Bad end, Bat Family, Blood and Gore, Brotherly Bonding While Trapped In A Room And Probably Going To Die, Brotherly Kidnapping, Can These People Do Anything Without Kidnapping Somebody??, Cass Is Not In For A Good Time, Character Death, Cutting Through A Dead Guy’s Belly, Damian Being A Bit Of A Dick, Dark Humor, Drugging, Emotional Manipulation, Fake Character Death, Family Fights, Family Issues, Family Relationships Being Torn Apart, Family Secrets, Funeral, Funerals, Gen, Gore, Grieving, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Jason Is Also Kinda A Dick, Jokerfication, Kidnapping, Major character death - Freeform, Manipulation, Minor Character Death, More Fucking Kidnapping, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Psychological Trauma, Scavenger Hunts, Supernatural Fanfic Is Read, Thriller, Trauma, Wakes & Funerals, needle mention
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-02-26 10:53:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 22,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18715600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayEclipse/pseuds/JayEclipse
Summary: The Joker lays dead on the cold earth of gotham, but his air lingers. For being a dead man, he has a good chance at getting the last laugh. (A darkverse au set in the joker who laughs verse just somebody else killed joker)





	1. 01.Barbara

**Author's Note:**

> Hi and welcome to this fic i've been working on for a few months. Do take heed of the tags and the notes at the start of each chapter where i'll put the TWs for the chapter.   
> I update this two chapters at a time on Saturday and Tuesday.
> 
> (TW: Murder)

Barbra Gordon sat alone in her apartment wondering how this happened. She had just gotten off the phone with one of her closest friends and also ex, Dick, who had told her that The Joker, the man who had done so much to her and to everybody close to her was found dead a week ago and Batman had been confirming it was him for the past week. She had ended the call pretty quick after hearing about that as she knew herself well enough to know she’d need time to think about this.

She rolled back and forth on her wheelchair processing the news, in the past when it was thought that The Joker had died there was either; no body found, a body that turned out to be fake, or a body that turned out to be some other poor sap. But if Bruce had been checking those possibilities for a week and thought the death was credible enough to share the news of with Dick then there might a possibility the clown was dead.

The wall clock ticked past the hour and Barbra thought of calling her dad, he was late getting home and it was unlike him to not call if he was staying late at the department. She wasn’t fond of sleeping in the house alone as she often worried that something could happen or someone could break in and it would be difficult for her to react in timely fashion, she know on a intellectual level that she would be fine by herself but years of living in gotham and being apart of the batfamily have brought a sense of paranoia and the feeling of always needing a backup plan even when nothing reasonably could go wrong.

She rolled her way into the kitchen to make some evening tea, the kettle filled with water and she fishes out a tea bag from the bottom of the box thinking to herself that they’ll need to buy a new box soon. Her mind is still on the news of the evening now wondering if maybe what has her dad late is Batman informing him of the news, he would need to know if he doesn’t already and she doubts her dad would keep that news from her considering her past with The Joker.

She heard the front door open slowly, poking her head into the living room she can immediately see it’s not her dad and before processing who it is she nearly jumps out of her skin before realizing it’s just a member of the batfamily.

“Ever hear of knocking?” She snarked rolling into the living room “You know you nearly gave me a heart attack”

They stood in the doorway “Sorry Babs,”

She sighed with joking frustration “It’s fine,” She rolled next to the couch “Why don’t you come in?”

They slouched into the couch making themself at home fairly fast. Barbra couldn’t help but notice their knuckles were freshly bruised and they were still sweaty from something.

“So what brought you here? You don’t really visit often”

They turned to face her and their face went somber “I heard the new about The Joker and i thought somebody should check up on you since you’ve got a lot of reasons to have some strong feelings about it,”

“So do you,”

“Yeah we'll anyways, Dick is still tied up at the cave so i thought i might as well. So how are you handling the news?”

She hadn’t of really had time to process it before he had showed up but she thought about it for a moment “I don’t know, you kinda came only 10 minutes after i got told so i’m still processing it and wondering if it could be true.”

They leaned back for a moment then said “Fair enough, i saw the body and it looked real dead if that helps,”

“How dead exactly?”

“Deader than rail worker on the wrong side of the trolly problem,” They chuckled.

They talked about their feelings on it for a while, both had fairly mixed but Barbara was more worried about feeling good that somebody died than the other did, they offered some comfort about it and soon that part of the conversation was over.

“So any idea if the bat has started the search for the killer?” He folds his hands and rests his elbows on his knees

“No, Dick didn’t get a good chance to tell me. Though shouldn’t you know? I mean if you’ve seen the body you must have been in the cave?”

The water in the kitchen started to boil and scream the way only a kettle put on maybe a bit too high can. Barbara rolled into the kitchen and turned the stove off. As she picks up the kettle to pour it her phone rings, sets it down back on the burner and starts to make noise again as she picks up the call. It’s from her dad

“Hi Dad,” She waits for a response but none came

“Dad?” She listened intently but still nothing and the boiling water was starting to become loud again

“Dad!?” She heard something finally, a muffed noise that sound like somebody from the other room saying ‘Dad’ loudly, and the noise of boiling water.

Turning her chair to head into the living room to find out why they had her Dad’s phone she saw them right behind her with a sickly sly smile and a knife. All her thoughts raced.

She screamed, but it was cut short but the gurgling of blood as her throat was cut.


	2. 02.Dick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (TW: A dead body is found right at the start of the chapter, it can be skipped by looking for the first break in text, there is also talk of a crime scene)

The phone’s clock glows 6:14AM as Dick checks to see if Barbara has responded to, or even seen the text he sent her last night. She hasn’t been picking up calls or texts from anybody, not even Bruce and Dick couldn’t help but worry about her. But his worries were cut short as he saw the ‘read at’ message show up. He can’t help but smile a bit as that means she is at least awake.

Dick: hey i’m coming over btw, that ok?

Barbara: that’s fine :)

… Weird, she usually didn’t use typed out emoji or all lowercase, maybe something is wrong? _No no no let’s not get paranoid over a text sent at 6:15AM, nobody types like themselves this early in the day, hell i once called tim timothy at 6AM_ Dick thought to himself as he walked through the cold city. But the cold air and a feeling in the back of his head both could not stop nagging him all the way there,

He stands in front of a very familiar door but it feels wrong, the main reason being that it was left ajar. Barbara nor Jim ever left the door open let alone unlocked, something was wrong and Dick readied himself in case a fight was waiting for him behind the door. He braced himself and opened it.

But was waiting for him was worse than a fight, worse that anything else could think of. Barbara’s dead body in her wheelchair in the kitchen doorway with ‘HAHAHAHAHA’ spray painted on the wall, he could feel the tears well up in his eyes and anger well up in his heart.

* * *

 

Three hours later the whole family was brought into the cave, everybody was handling the news in a different way, Dick was standing with Cass as they both let themselves cry it out. Duke and Harper stood a bit away from every once else seemly in shock. Tim and Seph were already talking with bruce about how they’d find the killer. Damian, Jason, and Kate were all fuming. Dick could tell that Bruce was barely holding himself together and would probably spend some time later in tears. And as it always was Alfred had to be the one who stayed strong, this wasn’t the first time he had to see the aftermath of a death in the family and he knew this wouldn’t be the last time.

Dick could hear Batman clearing his throat to get the attention of everybody before speaking.

“We need to find the person behind this, so let’s go over the clues,” Bruce always focused way too hard on work after somebody died, he was like this after Jason’s death, after Steph’s, and after Damian’s, Dick thought to himself. _Let’s just hope nothing else happens this month_

“So firstly Jim was lured away from his car and to a secluded area via a presumably fake mugging, he radioed in a description of the perpetrator ‘dark gray hoodie, height unknown, race unknown’. He was then shot three times in the chest, the gun is unregistered. His phone was taken off his body but everything else was left behind. Barbara had to have let in her killer as the only spare key is with Dick so it had to have been somebody she trusted,”

Everybody looked around, Dick could tell the batfamily trademarked paranoia was running through everybody's heads wondering if it could have been one of them.

“She had her throat slit and was stabbed in the chest 7 times. I believe the killer left through the window in her bedroom as there were traces of her blood on it and it was open. And lastly i couldn’t find anything with the spray paint, it’s a common brand and it’d be impossible to find the killer via it.”

* * *

  
Two hours later everybody had headed out of cave after some sharing of ideas, everybody needed time to dwell on what happened. Dick had went outside on the porch and stared at the city, only yesterday Barbara was alive. He could see the skyscraper he had his first kiss with her on, or at least he thought it was that one, it was hard to tell from so far away. He could envision that night like it as only yesterday, oh if only it was yesterday, but instead yesterday was the last day of her life and today is the most awful one in recent memory since Damian died.

“Hey,” Dick turned around to see Jason giving him a half hearted wave, he came up to the railing leaning his arms on it the same way Dick was just a moment ago “How you holding up?”

Dick turned back to the skyline “I should have been there, i should have protected her,”

Jason patted him on the back firmly “It was just a normal night, you can’t blame yourself for not being around 24/7,”

The vision of the building from so long ago still in Dick’s view he said “I have to find the person who did this”

“What do you plan to do to them?” Dick could see Jason looking at him from the corner of his eye

“I don’t know,”

“Well Dick i also want to find the _fucker_ behind this, i knew her pretty well, since i was robin, she was still in Gotham so of course i bothered her a bunch and got to know her,” Jason went into his pockets and fetched a lighter and a cig

They both stood still for a moment before Jason said what neither of them wanted to hear “One of us could have done it, the batfamily i mean by us. She would trust them and let them in and they’d know to go after her first since she’s one of the key info gatherers,”

Dick turned to face Jason with something resembling anger in his eyes “You say first like more of us are going to be killed!”

Jason shrugged “It could happen.”

“Well unlike you Jason i have some faith that nobody here is a murderer and faith that we’ll find the killer before they can do anything else,” Dick turned to walk off. _This isn’t the time for us to not trust each other, we need each other for times like these_

“You do remember me and Damian, and Kate have killed people in the past right? And maybe Kate can be justified as manslaughter but me and Damian don’t have that going for us. I’ve seen how somebody ‘good’ can go all sorts of murdery”

Dick stopped to listen but then continued walking off

“Where are you going?”

Dick stops for another moment “I’m going to be one who finds the killer.” Than heads back inside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. 03.Tim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey sorry about not posting, i lost internet where i live. To make up for that i am posting all the chapters that would have been posted at once
> 
> (TW: Death, Fighting)

The night air in gotham tended to be cold but for the first time in a long time it bothered Tim. It felt like a thaunt of how long he’s been out looking for any clue, any lead, about the death of Barbara Gordon. Her neighbor's were less than helpful, what they said of what they thought Barbara’s last words were still rung in his ears,

 

“Oh i just thought she was watching a action movie,”

 

“All that noise from those stupid video games woke me, and my cat, up,” “Barbara was murdered,” “Oh.”

 

“Ehh, It’s Gotham, if you go three days without hearing somebody yelling bloody murder you’re probably deaf,”

 

And all of them failed to take any note of who came into the building, who entered her apartment, or of a person climbing out the window. Tim would have hoped the detective smarts of the Gordon’s would have rubbed off on their neighbors but that wasn’t the case it seemed.  _ Whatever happened to bird of a feather flock together? Guess that doesn’t apply to housing,  _ he thought to himself

 

He was now perched on the rail of a fire escape across from the window of Harley Quinns current apartment, she tended to move around a lot with the police after her or ivy often along with stuff related to the suicide squad that Tim didn’t even want to think about right now. What he needed to focus on was the fact that if anybody would be keeping up to date about rumors to do with The Joker it’d be Harley Quinn. She’s kept an eye on him ever since their break up and for what reasons it depended on the month but no matter what she had some idea what he was up to, so if anybody would know if he managed to yet again cheat death, she would. Hopefully. Plus she did keep in contact with the other rouges so if she doesn’t she still might be able to point him the right way

 

Tim leapt from the railing flying through the air for a moment before his hands, ready to grab, got a hold of the windowsill, pulling himself up on to it in one movement he then got to work at getting the window open. It being unlocked, slides right open letting Tim hop down into the darkened bedroom.

 

The room was small but fit a queen size bed in the middle up against the wall. There were plants on both bedsides, in fact there were plants everywhere in the room, both an aesthetic choice as well as a practical one considering if anybody tried to surprise them at night Ivy would have something she could use. Tim crept over to the bedside closer to the door trying to see if anything had been left on it.

 

But then he heard the window slam shut, turning to see what had happened he saw one of the many plants was the thing to shut it but the cause was a tired looking Ivy in a pink bathrobe who managed to be in Tim’s blind spot when he had came in. She puts one hand to her temple then asked “Red Robin, for what do i owe the pleasure?”

 

“I need to talk to Harley,” Tim saw Ivy nod to what he said,  _ hopefully she’ll point me to her _

 

“And why do you need to do that?” Ivy approached Tim and got in front of the door and flicked the lights on

 

“I need to know if she’s heard any rumors about the joker in the past week, so where is she?” Tim tried to get a peek at the hallway behind Ivy but her red hair was fairly poofy and blocking the way, judging by that and the faint smell of coconut she got out of a bath recently.

 

“Oh if it’s just that you know you could have knocked instead of breaking in,”

 

Tim tried to defend himself “Your window was unlocked to be fair,” 

 

“That’s still breaking in,” Ivy motioned Tim to follow her into the hallway “But anyways Harley is on a mission from  _ you know who _ ,”

 

The way she said that made Tim believe it was likely that Amanda probably had the apartment bugged and knowing what he did about the woman that would make all too much sense. But either way he followed her into the living room, it was a bit more open than the bedroom but not by much, it had plants hanging from the ceiling and and Harleys many props laying around or leaned up against the wall, it was a strange peek into the day to day life of some of the rouges but Tim had other things to think about.

 

Ivy took a seat on the love seat, crossing her arms she asked “So what has you looking around the rumor mill?”

 

Tim stood at the end of the seat, it wasn’t very professional to sit down on the job, “There might have been a murder done by The Joker,” It was a blunt way to put it but it was the truth.

 

Ivy mulled over what he had just said for a moment with a mixture of looks on her face it was hard to pin down exactly how she was feeling about the news but it was a safe guess to say worried, she took a long breath and informed Tim “Well i’m sorry to say but neither i nor Harley have heard anything about The Joker for the past week, in fact that’s had us both worried,”

 

“Well if luck you shouldn’t have to worry, he is supposed to be dead,” Tim knew he wasn’t allowed to tell anybody outside of the batfamily about that news yet but if there was anyone that needed to know this outside the batfamily it’d be Harley Quinn and right now the best way to get that news to her would be Ivy.

 

“I think we both know he isn’t gone that easily, even if he is dead his actions are still rippling through gotham and i don’t think that’s ever going to stop,” Ivy got up and started to walk back to the bedroom, she had a point and it was clear she didn’t like that fact.

 

“Well, thanks anyways.”

 

* * *

 

Tim had left through one of the living room windows, using the door would just raise questions from nosy neighbors and besides, the window was faster. He squats on a roof near the apartment he just left, unseen by anyone on the streets below him. The slight breeze mess with his hair and for a moment he wished he was in his old costume, but then he remembered how much it got made fun of (Mostly by Jason) and then just pushed the hair back out of the way.

 

He pulled his communicator from one of the many pouches on his belt and held up to his mouth, pressing the button down so it’d be in a push to talk state he then used one of the other buttons to click through all the batfamily members till he got to Batman.

 

“I went to Harley’s apartment,”

 

“And?” Tim could almost hear Bruce pacing 

 

“She wasn’t there, she’s apparently on a mission from the suicide squad, but Ivy was there and told me that neither of them have heard anything and she didn’t seem to be lying,” There wouldn’t be any reason for her to have been so it was pretty safe to report she wasn’t, at least Tim hoped.

 

The cogs in Bruce’s mind seemed to be turning for a minute as Tim was just left with silence of the street, cars passing by, people talking, car alarms going off in the distance and a bunch of police cars headed for arkham. Wait that last thing was actually noteworthy, Tim started to follow on foot from one roof to the next.

 

“Tim i need you to head to Arkham,” Tim could have guessed that from what he was following but at least Bruce might have more info

 

“What’s going on there?” He leapt from one roof to the next and then grabbed his grappling hook and dove off one roof and shot for a overhand of one of the old brick buildings

 

“Two Face has started a impromptu break out, details about why unknown for now,” Bruce rattled off the details of when it started and in what part of the building it was like how Tim was used to, it was an info dump yes, but a blunt one with the important details first, it reminded Tim of when he did more work with Bruce, it had him almost missing it but he was happy doing his own thing for now.

 

* * *

 

Arkham has never been known for its; safety, security, humane treatment of its residents, competent staffing, or order but when in the middle of a break out mixed with a riot all these things were clear as he saw the residents flooding the hallways and what staff that had stayed only willing to take on the inmates that were of little harm. He’ll have to let Bruce know about that later but first he had to find Two Face.

 

Scouting the building it seemed like the thick of the chaos was coming from the garden outside so that’d be the place to check. And that guess was right as Tim crouched out of sight with a pair of binoculars he could see Two Face with three goons in the middle of the gazebo, off to one side was a cleaner’s cart that had somebody hiding behind it, Two Face was checking his back and sides constantly and his eyes looked wide even from where Tim was sitting. He knew he needed to talk with Two Face so he took a running jump off the roof and gilded down half way till the bullets started to fly then he dropped a smoke pellet and dropped down in the middle of it, he might not have the full half face cover mask but his eyes were still protected by the trusty domino mask.

 

He tripped the first of the goons with a swiping kick and grabbed the collapsible bo staff from his belt and on their way down to the ground he smacked them in the torso with the staff, the next goon was headed for him with a punch aimed for the jaw, Tim ducked down and then cracked the goon across the jaw with the staff, getting back to standing tall the last of the goon surrounding Two Face came running at him with a knife, he dodged to the left but the goon was fainting his attack and instead of going for Tim they knocked the staff out of his hands. Tim fumbled with the staff for just a second before it went clattering to the ground, he immediately drew his hand back for a palm strike to the goons chest which landed then he pushed his body up head butting the goons jaw, the dull throb of pain went through Tims skull but it wasn’t something he couldn’t handle.

 

The last of the goons went thud on the floor and Two Face made a small yelp sound and even through the thinning smoke Tim could see sweat bead up on his forehead. He looked around in some sense of desperation and saw the cleaner and grabbed them putting his pistol up against their head and stepping away from Tim.

 

Tim put up on his hands and approached slowly “Two Face, you don’t need to be doing this, let the hostage go,” Tim tried to keep his voice as steady as he could

 

Two Face had backed up right into the fence of the gazebo, his eyes were still wide and he shook his head “No, no, i’m not going to be doing anything like that,”

 

Tim continued to step forwar-

 

“Don’t take another step or i’ll shoot them!!” Two Face shouted, pressing the gun right up against the hostage who was now starting to sob

 

“Please just let me go!!” They wailed “I-i-i have kids!!” The lie was transparent but not a bad attempt at getting some sympathy from Two Face Tim thought to himself

 

Tim stopped dead in his tracks, now with both hands up in front of his chest to show he wasn’t going to do anything “Calm down, nobody is going to do  _ anything _ ,”

 

Two Face tried to back up further but was still met by the fence, “Just,” He paused “Nobody do anything stupid,”

 

He then pointed the gun at Tim “You’re going to take a few steps back now,”

 

“Why are you even doing this, none of this makes sense” It really didn’t, Two Face wasn’t in arkham at the first place and nobody he cared about was either

 

Tim Saw Two Face open his mouth and even hear him begin to say “Som-”

 

*BANG*

 

The hostage ran forward the moment the noise went off falling safely to the floor, meanwhile the limp body of Harvey Dent fell over the fence and into the flowerbed below, where surely the blood from his neck wound would be flowing over the petunias. Tim stood for just a moment in shock, that couldn’t have just happened? Right?

 

But there wasn’t time to question it, he needed to find the shooter, he pulled out his grappling hook and went to shoot it towards the roof and as he turned he could see the outline of the shooter. A person with a fit build and an unremarkable height. 

 

Another shot went off and it wasn’t aimed for Tim, the hostage nearly got shot in the torso and right after the shot rang out Tim turned to see where it landed then jumped over and pulled the cleaner behind the cleaning cart.

Tim looked back and the figure was gone, he double checked the cleaner was okay and then grappled up to the roof. He looked for any sign of the shooter but couldn’t even find the spent shells, whoever this was they were being careful.

 

* * *

  
  


Once the breakout had stopped Tim slumped down against the wall of the entrance to the main arkham building, the police were still clearing the place out completely. Tim’s face found it’s way into his hands as a few tears came, it wasn’t often the stress got to him but this was one of those times.

 

He failed, Harvey Dent was now being put in a body bag and the killer was on the loose. He leaned back into the wall, the stone bricks uncomfortable cold and pulled out the communicator, his hand lingered over the call button for a moment,  _ how will he react? That was his friend, once. And i failed to protect him. _

 

He pressed down the button, “I’ve got good news and bad news,”

 

“What happened?” The tension in Bruce’s voice was clear, and the noise of the city in the background told him that Bruce was now out on patrol.

 

“The good news is the breakout is over,” Tim sighed trying to think of a good way to word the bad news

 

“And the bad?”

 

“There was-, Harvey he- Dent was shot by a shooter that i only managed to see the outline of…..” The words felt heavy to say, like there was a rock tied to him for each syllable that got out of his mouth. The room felt darker than it was before even though the fluorescent lights still flickered right over his head.

 

The silence was deafening, the only thing that let Tim know Bruce was still on the other side was a passing car.

 

“Okay, i’ll want the full report once i get back to the cave.”

 

Bruce shut off the com before Tim could reply. Tim could only bring his knees up to his chest and let what just happened play on repeat through his head.


	4. 04.Cass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Body Defacement

She brushed her eyelashes with mascara, it felt strange and uncomfortable but so did everything else about this situation. It had been a week since Barbara was found dead in her apartment and it was now time for the funeral. Cass brushed just a bit more powder over his face and looked at herself in the mirror in front of her, she saw the mascara was already starting to run as he eyes were welled up with tears. She grabbed a tissue from the box on the table in front of her, she was in Kate’s guest room at the manor as she didn’t really own much makeup or anything and when there was a wayne event somebody would often just help her with it.

 

She got up from the chair and made her way through the home which was empty as everybody was already outside waiting by the cars, there wouldn’t be enough room in just one car for everybody so everyone grouped up into smaller groups and a few people were just going to handle getting there alone like Jason who’d probably just take his bike. The house felt just as uncomfortable as the mascara but unlike that it wasn’t supposed to. This was her home but it felt so different that day.

 

She finally got outside to be met with a beautiful and sunny day,  _ Barbara would have loved it.  _ She thought to herself as she got over to the car she’d be going in, standing outside of it was Stephanie who was in a dress shirt with a black jacket and black skirt, Duke who was also in a dress shirt but no jacket and black dress pants along with a black tie, and Kate who was probably the best dressed for the event with a black dress that went to right below her knee. All of them looked fairly grim and as Cass got closer Steph waved her over

 

“Hey,” Steph went in for a half hug and Cass leaned right into it.

 

“Hi,” Cass hugged right back, she needed the support and she knew Steph did too

  
  


Kate was the one driving the car through the busy gotham traffic, Cass was seated next to Steph meanwhile Duke got shotgun. Cass sunk in her seat her arms crossed and just trying to make herself as small as possible, Steph gave a quick pat on her shoulder. 

 

“I can’t believe somebody died so soon after i joined you guys,” Duke was just staring out his window, resting his elbow on it his eyes were the kinda empty you get when in shock. He has only joined a few months ago so he wasn’t yet used to the tragedy that came with the batfamily, from all the faked deaths to the real ones the family just seemed to draw some of the worst stuff to themselves.

 

“I can get you, i think we’re all in a lot of shock but you must really be in some,” Kate tried to offer some sympathy.

 

“She should have got more time,” Steph said that under her breath but Cass could hear her.

 

“Mmph,” She nodded as she voiced her agreement

 

“She was always there for all of us and she went through so much crap and this is how the world decided to thank her?!” Steph threw her arms up for a moment before settling back down.

 

“It is… Unfair that… This happened,” Cass leaned over and gave Steph a hug with one arm.

 

“Yeah it is,” Steph sunk down and turned to Cass then seemly noticed something “You’ve got some mascara running down your cheeks,”

 

“Oh,” Cass tried to wipe that away with the backs of her hands but that was only making more of a mess of it before Steph got some tissues out of her bag and wiped the tears from Cass’s face.

 

“So is it possible that the joker is already back?” Duke turned to Kate, it was a fair question but the timing might not be the best.

 

“We aren’t going to question that right now, that’s for when we’re in costume,” Kate replied.

 

It was clear that Duke could tell he should change the subject as he turned to face Steph and asked “So why isn’t Harper getting a ride with us?”

 

“Yeah.. Why isn’t she?” Cass looked Steph in the eyes.

 

“I...I haven’t seen her since last night….” The look on Steph face was one of unease and that look transformed into a feeling the flooded the car, everybody shared a look, even Kate using the rear view mirror.

 

* * *

 

They were there, the family had for the most part gathered in the front area and were saying their hellos to each other but Cass could notice that Dick was missing from that group. She wandered over to the side of the building where she could hear some crying, turning the corner it was Dick who looked like a mess already and service hadn't even started yet, he was wiping tears with is sleeve and looked up and noticed Cass.

 

“Oh, uh,” He looked almost ashamed of the state he was in.

 

Cass came over and got some tissue from out her pocket and gave them over, “Are.. You okay?” 

 

Dick took the tissues and wiped his tears away, “I.. don’t know.”

 

“It’s… Okay if you aren’t,” She pulled him into a hug, “So why.. Aren’t you with everybody?”

 

“I’m the lighthearted member of the family, i’m the one that can crack a joke most of the time, but look at me right now, i’m a mess,” Dick cling to her tightly

 

“They understand, Barbara was close with you, they know.” She patted his back as the hug continued

 

“You’re right…”

 

“Come,” She lead him to the front of the building where Bruce welcomes him over with open arms and give him and hug and says something that Cass couldn’t make out from the distance, but they were clearly words of comfort.

 

* * *

 

The family gathered around the closed casket, it was to be opened during the service and the family all were having their moments to cope before the funeral worker opened it. Jason had a arm around Dick, Steph standing next to Tim who looked like he was carrying the weight of all that had happened on his shoulders, Alfred was keeping a hand on Bruce’s shoulder, Kate already had tissue to her face, and Cass and Duke stood off to one side before with a sense of dread, something felt off but neither could quiet place it.

 

As the worker opened it Duke clearly saw something from a moment in the future that he did not like very much as his eyes went wide and he took a step back covering his mouth with his hands and a moment later the worker screamed as everybody saw what was the matter.

 

The body laying in the casket meant for Barbara Gordon instead had a girl in her late teens with blue hair that was in a side shave, she was in a short black dress that clearly came from walmart, and a smile was carved into her dead pale face. Harper Row was dead.

 

Everybody gasped and Cass could hear somebody ask “What the fuck?!” but couldn’t be sure who, Bruce immediately turned to the worked and pulled them over to side to question them and she could hear the worker quickly answered his question saying that the casket had been kept close since midnight that night. Kate was already off to another side calling the police.

 

Everybody else just stood there in utter shock till Stephanie started to sob and Tim pulled her away from the horrific sight in front of them.

 

It takes a moment for Bruce to finish questioning the worker but he then pull everybody other Than Tim and Steph to the side, everybody minds were full of questions but there was one that needed an answer right now, “We are going to figure out what happened to Harper but we need to find Barbara’s body,” Bruce thought it over for a moment before saying “Kate, Cass, Jason, you three find her body, everyone else will stay here for the police questioning and to deal with the shock, is that okay with everybody?”

 

The were mummer’s of agreement then the three left the building and went over to the cars, they all had some of their gear with them as that was just the batfamily way but they had all hoped it wouldn’t be needed. Jason rustled through a bag tied onto his bike as Kate tossed Cass a duffle bag from out the back of the car they used.

 

Cass could see the tenseness of the way the both of them moved, they were worried and they were angry that this happened. “Are.. We.. Okay?”

 

“I gotta admit, not really, i’m frankly pissed that now two more people get to be added to the batfamily death toll,” Jason took out a smaller bag with some force “Whoever is behind all this is going to have hell to pay.”

 

Kate sighed as she got her bag out and turned to Cass “I’m…. I just want to get this over with.”

 

The three of them got onto Jason’s bike to ride deeper into the graveyard where nobody would be so that they could get changed and also it wouldn’t look like the red hood was stealing jason todd's bike. Finding a spot in an area surrounded by trees they suit up ready to find the body of their fallen friend.

 

“We’ll want to split up to cover more ground,” Batwoman advised.

 

“‘Kay, i’ll take the inner city area, that cool with you two?”

 

“...Sure,” Cass wasn’t sure where she’d be best to scout out in this case so she thought to herself that she’ll just take whatever area they left.

 

“Okay, i’ll take the outer area’s of the city, Black Bat you’re on the riverside.”

 

“Sure,”

 

* * *

 

The sun felt uncomfortably warm against the black suit Cass was wearing, her outfit was much better fitted for the dark of the night, not the light of day, But she did what she had to do and she had to do this. She stood tall on the roof of apartment building scanning the river for any sign of a body being dumped in it. But the murky water was just as debris free as ever.

 

Cass couldn’t help but replay the moments she spent with Harper through her head in some sort of process to try to come to grips with the fact that she now dead. What were her last moments like? Cass shuddered to think of them, she knew the body language of somebody dying and it was not pleasant in the slightest, she hated how well she knew that look, how someone's limbs would move when meeting their end, but it was a part of her she couldn’t rid herself of even if she were to try.

 

She took a running start as she leapt from one roof to the next keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Barbara’s body. Had would have to be somewhere and judging by everything else this person had done they liked attention so she’d be somewhere visible. Cass had to wonder as she made her way over the roofs whether or not Two Face’s death had any relation to what was happening to the batfamily, it was a rather strange death at a rather strange time so it must have.

 

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of police sirens and an ambulance right behind them, she quickly pieces together were they are headed and as she gets close to the gotham bridge she could see in between two of the supports was hung up, the body of batgirl. She raced over and as she got closer she could see red hair wiping through the wind.

 

“I found her…” 


	5. 05.Harvey Bullock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TW: Dead Bodies

The commissioner and his daughter were gone, the Waynes yet again were in the middle of strange happenings, and Harvey could have really gone for some coffee at that moment. The GCPD had been in a state of barely controlled chaos since Jim had died though even before that trying to figure out who killed the joker had been making the detectives go crazy and then hearing that one of the funerals had gone so poorly that another girl was found dead might have just broke the floodgates, the city might start to think there was a serial killer and GCP might have started to lose faith in themselves. But Harvey didn’t really care about any of that, he had a job to do.

 

His car pulled into the asphalt parking lot and he made his way into the funeral home. As he passed a set of stairs he saw a blonde girl sobbing with Tim Drake comforting her. He made his way past that quickly as he knew there’d be better people to question than those two. He got into the main hall where the casket was already being check by forensics who got there a few minutes before he did. He headed straight for Bruce Wayne and pulled him off to the side of the room after telling one of the other officers to start questioning the workers.

 

“Hello Bullock, i wish we could be talking under better circumstances…” Bruce looked almost disappointed, like he let somebody down but that flew right over Bullock’s head.

 

“Yeah same here, sorry i couldn’t have been here for the funeral,” Bullock was ‘friends’ with Jim so the apology was less for Mr. Wayne but more for Jim be considering he was dead that was of little worth “You know how work is.”

 

Bruce gave an understanding look before crossing his arms and going from his normal charm to a more grim and stern look, he could tell that they about to get to the questioning bit and to be fair he wasn’t wrong.

 

“So i need to know what has happened to that casket-” He pointed his thumb behind him at the direction of it “-And Barbara’s body.”

 

Bruce adjusted his tie and then answered “Barbara’s body was being handle by my family as all her relatives were dead and it was in her will that if that were the case we’d handle it,”

 

“Go on,”

 

“Then as you know Barbara’s body since it was found had been in the GCPD morgue till two days ago and since then i’ve been having this funeral home handle the prep work on the body and i haven’t seen it since it came to me, i wish i could tell you more but that’s all i know.”

 

Harvey wrote that all down in a bullet point format then asked “Can you think of anybody who’d do this?”

 

Bruce shook his head, “No, i can’t.”

 

“Okay.” 

 

Harvey wandered from Bruce and over to the casket, looking down at the body he knew he had seen bodies like this before, back when the clown still roamed the streets of gotham, but he was supposed to be dead now. Could he be back? Or was this just a copycat killer?

 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Bruce taking a phone call,  _ might be worth it to go eavesdrop. _

 

He surreptitiously went over in earshot of what the Wayne was saying.

 

“You found the body where?!” He paced the carpeted floor and Harvey had to wonder what kind of  _ fucking _ conversation was he having??

 

The was a moment of silence then “Okay, stay out sight and let Kate and Jason know what’s happened, we’ll all talk later.”

 

Speaking of that where was Kate Kane or for that matter Jason Todd? It seemed like Bruce had them out looking for Barbara’s body? Harvey could never understand what was wrong with that family though he had his guesses that it had to do with the graveyard right near their house.

 

His radio came to life as he heard “Barbara Gordon’s body was found at the bridge dressed up as batgirl, we’ll take her back to the morgue.”

 

Well that confirmed that the phone call Bruce just had was about Barbara’s body, it raised even more questions but Harvey just shook his head and wandered back to the casket. Looking at it again he noticed somebody, her hand was clenched closed, he pulled it open and note fell out landing on her chest. Grabbing it to read he was met by a fairly disturbing note.

 

“Poor little Harper, couldn’t find her way back home in time. I can only wonder if her brother will also go looking for answers, time will only tell if he sees my note and takes the bait :)”

 

“Waynes!” Everybody turned to Harvey and Tim and Steph poked their heads in “Do any of you know where the girls brother is?”

 

Steph’s face went as pale as a ghost as she said in almost a whisper “No……..”


	6. 06.Duke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death?, Gunshots

He could see Bruce asking for the rest of the family to be excused home, he could see Harvey nod, and he could see everybody start to make their way out. He’d follow out into the currently sunny day in the parking lot.

 

“I should have noticed something was wrong,” Steph accused of herself.

 

“Well, we’re here now, it doesn’t matter now, what matters is that we find Cullen,” Tim’s comfort wasn’t the greatest but he was at least trying, he grabbed Steph by the shoulders and turned her towards himself “Look at me Steph, Harper wouldn’t want you to be blaming yourself, you hear me?”

 

She nodded and then went in for a hug, Tim didn’t look quite ready for it but leaned into it anyways.

 

Meanwhile Dick had started calling the other’s who had already left to let them know to start the search. He was pacing and running his hands through his hair maybe too much. 

 

Duke was pacing himself, he didn’t know how to handle this, there was a part of his training about this but the real deal was nothing like that. People were getting picked off like flies and he had started to worry that there’d be a next body found, he was still getting to know these people in full but here he was in the parking lot of a funeral home wondering if Cullen was already dead. His breaths felt fast and he could almost hear his own heartbeat, everything just felt so overwhelming!

 

He then felt a sharp sting on his cheek and realized he had completely zoned out and Damian was right in front of him and had just slapped him. “You with us still?”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Duke rubbed the nape of his neck.

 

“Grayson has decided everyone is going to pair up to find Row, well everyone besides from Jason and Kate as they both left to go look before Grayson made that decision, but anyways we’re one of the pairs, let’s get suited up.”

 

* * *

 

Duke and Damian went from ledge to ledge keeping their eyes on the streets, on the alleys, and on the roofs. There was a lot to process but Duke wasn’t having too much trouble keeping up. But in the back of his mind his fears only continued to mount, they were bound to come out at some point.

 

“Hey do you think anybody else is going to die?” The question just slipped out of his mouth before he knew what he said.

 

“Maybe,” Damian’s answer came far too fast for him to not have been thinking the same things as Duke. 

 

“Do you think me and luke and the others that tend to get ignored are going to be okay?” Duke had to ask, less people paid attention to when somebody like him, or jean paul, or harper was missing or up to something.

 

Damian is quiet for a moment before he said “Just keep an eye out on your back.”

 

Duke would have hoped for some comfort in those troubling times but it was Damian he was talking to, what could he expect? The fear nipped at the back of his mind but he pushed those thoughts even deeper.

 

“So what are your guesses about who’s behind this?” Duke wanted to try and get his mind off the topic of who might be next.

 

“Hmm, Maybe The Riddler if he’s completely lost himself as this all does seem borderline game like, but i think it’s more likely that it’s Duela Dent, also known as The Joker’s Daughter who’d be motivated by the joker’s death,”

 

“Yeah that sounds like it’d make sense,” 

 

The two continued to move through the city and soon got to 3rd ave, the streets were crowded with the masses heading to do their day to day life unaware of the awfulness around them. Leaned up against the wall of one of the many banks of gotham was Cullen who look tired and scared but importantly alive. Duke elbowed Damian and pointed at where Cullen was “He’s over there!”

 

Damian immediately starts to head down and duke followed, hopping down from one roof to a lower one that’d give a better angle to get to him. As they were both falling through the air a loud 

 

*BANG*

 

Went off. Damian rolled into his landing but Duke was far too preoccupied by the noise and flunked his landing, he landed on his arms and knees and had only a brief moment to be thankful for the body armor in his costume before looking up at where the shot came from and his powers kicking in.

 

In just a moment somebody he knows will turn to face him and shot.  _ Shit _

 

He frantically pointed towards the person as he tried to duck and shouted “Over there! He’s the-”

 

*BANG*

 

It felt like a head splitting pain but also like nothing at all, like he might as well be floating through space. He felt dizzy and like he was about to pass out, he knew he needed to tell Damian something but all he could think of was the pain coming from his neck, it felt warm. 

 

He passed out onto the roof.


	7. 07.Damian

He only looked back for a moment before grappling to the source of the shots, in one hand the grappling hook and the other was his communicator. He pressed down the call button “We’re at 3rd Ave, Row and Thomas were shot, Thomas in the neck, Cullen is unknown, i’m following the shooter,” Damian just needed to get the key points through to Bruce as this was not the time for a long chat, he was in the middle of a chase, but both of them would need medical care and it’d be best if Bruce had some say in what happened there.

 

“Robin, fall back and provide emergency care to whichever seems more harmed, now.” Bruce’s voice was firm like a general giving orders to his troops.

 

“I am going after the shooter,” Damian shut off his communicator, Cullen and Duke would be fine but this was a rare chance to try and just chase the guy behind all this, Damian wasn’t going to give that up.

 

As he leapt down another roof he cursed out under his breath Duke and Cullen for being so careless,  _ Duke should have been more careful and what on earth was Cullen even doing?  _ Damian rolled into his landing and planted his feet firmly back on the ground, keeping his breath study became harder and harder as the chase continued. The shooter had already gotten out of eye sight but there were enough clues to keep tracking without breaking pace.

 

Damian could see some construction tarps rustling back to where they should be from somebody clearing running through them, Damian jumped through them and found him rolling into a office space where the stairwell door had just slammed shut, he pushed himself back to his feet and sprinted to the door throwing it open he heard footsteps above him. He pulled out his grappling hook but before he could shot it up it was shot out of his hands and he could hear an almost familiar voice shout “Hey that’s cheating!”

 

The grappling hook clattered down the middle of the stairwell for some office worker to find in a few hours and Damian started racing up the stairs. One after another he could hear his heart pumping to keep up with his pace, his breaths were ragged at that point and he knew his stamina was starting to run low due to free running through the city for the past few minutes, he had amazing stamina for a 13 year old but he was still a 13 year old, there was only so much energy a body as small as his could hold.

 

He keep climbing, the building was a tall one, he had been trying to keep count at first but after floor number 20 he gave up. He threw himself to the top landing once it was in sight, only a moment before he had heard the door open and close. Opening the door he was at the top but no shooter in sight, the door took a moment to close as he approached the edge of the roof looking for them, trying to jump to any of the building nearby would be suicide but there was nowhere on this roof he could have been hiding.

 

Damian double checked the whole roof and couldn’t find anything. He stood near one of the edges sighing to himself and said “Fuck,”

 

“You’re aloud to do that?” Damian already had a bridorang in hand as he turned to see that it was just Red Hood behind him.

 

“When did you get here?” Damian sighed and put the birdorang back in his belt, people really needed to learn not to sneak up on him.

 

“I was nearby so Bruce asked me to find you,” Red Hood put his arm around Damian’s shoulder in a brotherly way “So are you alright?”

 

Damian pushed his arm of him “I’m fine.” That was partly a lie but Damian wasn’t sure how to not be okay, and besides he needed to keep his head in the game.

 

“You sure?”

 

“Positive,”

 

* * *

 

Everybody had met up at the hospital, Bruce was busy talking with the doctors meanwhile everyone was trying to process the events of the day, almost everybody were still in their funeral wear. The silence in the room was deafening and complete. Till Jason got up from his seat and dared break it “I’m headed outside for a smoke, anybody want to come with?” 

 

Everybody murmured a no, no one else was much of the smoker. Jason walked out of the room and outside. 

 

Damian was sitting on one of the seats that were meant to be comfortable but the padding was so thin somebody might as well just sit on a wood seat. He was playing out in his head how he could try to track down the killer, maybe set up some bai-

 

Somebody shook him and he zoned back to see that it was Dick who was standing in front of him “Hey are you okay?”

 

Damian crossed his arms and looked around to make sure none of the staff were listening in, seeing that there were none he turned back to Dick “We should be out there looking for the guy who did this, not just sitting here  _ waiting _ ,”

 

Dick put a hand on Damian’s shoulder “I understand how your feeling but everybody is exhausted, we should wait till somebody can get those bullets through the computer’s system, and we should be here in case something happens with Duke or Cullen, we’re their family.”

 

Damian scoffed “Most of us barely know them, they’re the two newbies to this all and most of are just here out of obligation,” Damian felt like this was the time to be blunt.

 

But judging by the look of disgust on Septhine’s face that wasn’t true, she shouted at Damian “Cullen has been living with me and Harper for months! I knew them! Just because you can only care about yourself doesn’t mean the rest of us do!” Septhine put a hand over her mouth realizing what she just said.

 

Damian just looked at the room at large “Can anyone tell me how close you were to Duke?”

 

Dick rubbing his temple said “No need for the past tense, he’s not dead,”

 

“He got shot in the neck, he might as well be. Now can somebody answer me?”

 

Everybody had looks of either digest, frustration, or in Dick’s case disappointment. That last one stuing Damian, he knew he had crossed a line somewhere there. He wasn’t trying to be cruel, he just wanted to point out the facts, but it was an emotional situation, something Damian had always sucked at and deep down knew he always would.

 

He asked himself what would Dick be saying if he weren’t in shock right now. A little quieter than before he suggested “Maybe everyone other than Father and Brown should head out? Either to go look around or rest?” It wasn’t  _ quite _ what Dick would say but close enough.

 

Damian got up from his chair and started walking out, he didn’t think his presence was wanted at that moment. Besides there was work to do, maybe everybody else was tired but Damian was trained from birth to go beyond what was healthy for him, he’d stay up all night if he had to.

 

The glass doors slid open and he walked into the gotham air outside, ah the smell of rain, gas, and cigarette smoke. He was headed for the parking lot when he heard behind him “What’s got you in a huff?”

 

He turned to see Jason with a lit cigarette in one hand and the other in his pocket, he looked almost smug as Damian rubbed his temples “Everybody is content to just stay in the waiting room instead of doing anything helpful.”

 

Jason dropped his smoke and stomped it out with his boot, Damian was pretty sure it was the same pair of boots he used as Red Hood but thought not to ask right now. Jason then scrolled over “So where are ‘ya headed?

 

“I’m going to go hunt down some clues, don’t try to stop me.” Damian walked purposefully towards the parking lot.

 

He could hear Jason catching up with him and he semi shouted “Stop you? I wouldn’t dream, in fact i think you’ve got the right idea.”

 

Damian turned around to the then caught up Jason “You do?”

 

“Yup, so you want a ride?” Jason pointed towards his bike.

 

Damian nodded, he didn’t quite have a plan about transport before then so that was quite lucky for him. He followed Jason over and got on the back. Clinging to his brother on the bike the two rode off into the city.


	8. 08.Cullen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, A dead guys guts are dug through though not on screen, Beating, General Hopelessness, Emetophobia

The lights above his head were fuzzy when shining through his semi close eyelids and dark lashes. He could barely make out murmerms of medical mumbo jumbo only some of it familiar from watching scrubs with Harper when he couldn’t sleep as a kid. His upper chest felt like it was in the dullest of pains, like a mute button was pressed on it.

 

_ What happened to me? Where is Harper? _ Were the only things on his mind, his head felt as fuzzy as the rest of what was happening. He couldn't quite remember what had him there, he could only grasp faint things like something cold on his head, getting punched, blood all over his hands and feeling like he would throw up, and exhaustion. But what he knew in stone was that Harper wasn’t there, where could she be? _ Maybe at the funeral? Wait why am i not there? _

 

Then the truth, the memory of the past 7 hours hit him like a ton of bricks

 

* * *

 

7 hours ago.

 

‘Cas stroked Deans hair “There there, it not your fault what Michael did with your body.” Dean let one manly tear roll down his face, he didn’t let himself cry often but with Cas that was different. He felt something hard up against his leg as he continued to cuddle c-’

 

“It said mature!” Cullen threw his hands up into the air,  _ did anybody know the meanings of the ratings on ao3! _

 

He had been up for quite the while, coffee cups littered his desk and he brought up another fan fic, they were pretty good at keeping him up and he wanted to stay up till Harper got home. He knew he should probably be getting rest but he was worried about Harper, she should have been home hours ago, he feared that she was in trouble but everyone had yet to respond to his texts and it wasn’t like he could go out and rescue her from a villain if she had been kidnapped by one.

 

He pushed his rolly chair away from his desk and got up, maybe what he needed was another cup of coffee to calm him down as he could still hear his heartbeat thumping in his chest. As he turned the knob he heard a loud thud on his open window, he turned to it and approached. As he got closer a rock with a note tied to it flew through the window and landed on the fake wooden floor.

 

He bent down and picked it up but the moment he read it he wished he hadn't.

 

“Your sister? Yeah she is in trouble and if you’d like to help her you’ll do as i tell you on this note and the others. If you don’t i guess i get an excuse to see how well my new knife can cut through bone. Anyways head to cobblepot park and look in the flowers you’ll find your next note there.”

 

Cullen rushed to the window to try to get a look at the person who threw that through his window but was met with a rock landing on his head, he was knocked to his butt and rubbing where he was hit he grabbed the note and read it with the least amused face a person could muster.

 

“Okay so i forgot to mention this on the first thing and i don’t feel like reprinting that note so anyways don’t tell anybody about where you are going or what is happening, if i have any reason to think that you did, Harper is get some scars to remind her how little her brother cares for her well being. Also do take all of the notes with you on your person. And this is a old school type of scavenger hunt so leave the phone at home, kay? :/”

 

Cullen could feel the sweat run down his forehead as his heart rate skyrocketed, his sister was in danger and he was the only person who could help her. He clutched his stomach as he tried to not let his nerves make him throw up all that coffee he had drank. 

 

He pulled himself to the freezer for some frozen peas to put on his head to dull the pain. It did little to truly comfort him though, he wouldn’t feel comfortable till Harper was safe. He headed back to his room and threw a hoodie on and lingered his hand over his phone for a moment before leaving it on his desk, it didn’t seem worth it to risk pissing off the guy behind this. He went to the front door, turned off the lights and headed out.

 

* * *

 

Cobblepot park, a place that by all rights should have been a lovely place for families to headout on a scroll but shortly after the land was bought the area fell into hard times and the Cobblepots became history. Cullen shifted around in his hoodie, his skin had felt it it was crawling since he read the first note.

 

As he went to the flowerbed he passed some hooligans who seemed chatty with each, they were the only people around and seemed preoccupied so at least Cullen didn’t have worry about anyone giving him an odd look. He got to the edge of the flowerbed and kneed next to it, sticking his hands in between the stalks of the flowers and digging around he felt so stupid and sweaty.

 

“Hey what ‘cha doing there flower boy?” He heard one of the hooligans cackle, he had heard far worse from people and had elected to try to ignore the guy.

 

“Hey asshole im talking to you,” Cullen had no time for this, he just needed to find the next stupid note so he could get this over with, he didn’t even turn to the guy and kept digging through the bed.

 

He felt the collar of his shirt get grabbed and he was dragged up and forced to face the guy in charge, who just spited in his face before punching him in the gut. The pain felt all too familiar as he fell to the ground, but he didn’t get to process it as a kick to the face was next, he tried to curl up to protect his face the best he could and squeezed his eyes shut, but the kicks just kept coming, he screamed as loud as he could but he knew nobody would care, there were screams everywhere in gotham, but he couldn’t stop himself for crying out in pain. It felt like it wouldn’t end, but then it did.

 

He opened to just one of his eyes to see that they had backed off and one of them were offering a hand up. He got up on his own, wobbly on his feet from the pain he just felt tempted to run to the nearest convenience store and sob in their bathroom but he stilled that note.

 

The guy in front of him went to pull something out of his pocket and Cullen could hear his heart but then he just pulled out a  _ note _ “hey nothing personal but a guy paid us to beat up the first guy to go digging in the flowers and then give him this so here,” Cullen snatched the note out of the guys hand then watch him and his friends walk off like none of what just happened, happened.

 

Unfolding the note he was not very excited to see what was next but then a key fell out and on to the ground, he picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket and then read the note

“Good job at listening to basic instruction along with good job at standing up to the physical endurance test. You now may be catching on to the fact that this will be harder than just going from location to location and grabbing a note. Your next stop is going to be the wayne tower, head in then take a left till you see the male bathroom then head in there and dig through the trash till you find a note. Also good luck on getting out of there ;)”

 

_ What the fuck is wrong with this guy? _

 

* * *

 

Wayne tower, a place Cullen had became very familiar with after Harper got her new job. It was still early in the morning leaving the lobby fairly empty, he waved to the receptionist as he passed her by, she was nice girl and Cullen was pretty sure Harper may have had a crush on her for a while.

 

He headed down the left hallway till he saw up ahead of him a guy’s bathroom which had a maintenance sign in front of it,  _ that must explain the key that was with the note _ . He ignored the sign as he turned the key in the door and heard a click. He made sure was looking at him then creaked the door open.

 

The smell hit him immediately, the room smelled like a butcher's shop had a sewer line break in the middle of it or other words meat and shit. He had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep himself from screaming in horror, there was a dead body of some small time crook from the look of it. Cullen double check nobody was looking at him then went in the room.

 

As he closed the door he noticed on the floor next to the body was a knife.  _ They couldn’t possibly have meant?  _ But looking up there was spray painted on the wall the message “You know what you have to do :)” the realization that he’d have to dig through a dead man’s guts ala the saw movies was enough to make Cullen throw up into the conveniently right next to him toilet. He was not very religious but he mumbles some prayers that he’d wake up from such an awful nightmare but the moments passed by and he was no closer to his bed.

 

He thought of just leaving and letting the front desk know about what he found but then the image of Harper getting hurt couldn’t get unstuck from his mind, if he wanted to help her he had to do this, but if he didn’t want to get arrested he’d have to do this smartly.

 

He took off his clothes and put them as far away from the body and the sink as he could, both of those areas were going to get really messy in a few minutes. As long as he could clean himself up before putting his clothes on nothing would be out of place if he pulled this off right.

 

He crouched next to the body and took a gulp, he was really going to do this wasn’t he? He picked up the knife and with trembling fingers made his first incision. 

 

He the aftermath he had trouble keeping himself from sobbing as he scrubbed away at his skin with paper towels, he felt so dirty, so wrong after what he had just done, he looked at himself in the mirror and saw just how wide yet empty his eyes looked, how his mouth was still agasp from the original shock of finding the body, and how dark the bags under his eyes were. He ran the ziplock bag he had found in the guys guts under the water as well. The last of the blood came off his skin and he staggered his way to his clothes pulling them on limply. He double checked there was no blood on him then left the scene of the crime.

 

The receptionist waved at him as he rushed out the door but he just pushed toward not even acknowledging her. He marched to a bench far away from Wayne tower and finally open the ziplock bag and fished out the note from it.

 

“So you got some  _ guts _ , get it? Guts, cause you had to cut through a guys. Oh never mind even. Anyways you got further than i thought you would but this isn’t over yet, i need you to go to edward nashtons house and punch him in the face, you’ll find the note in his dumb hat.”

 

* * *

 

The series of tasks after that one became more and more ridiculous and in retrospect were only meant to keep Cullen busy and away from any of the batfamily but after getting a note out of a living guy via punching him in the gut till he threw it up he was told to wait at 3rd ave.

 

He walked down the ave barely keeping himself together, he just wanted to sleep or go home or even just go into a coma so the fucking scavenger hunt would be over. He leaned against the wall of a bank and found himself sliding down it, he was then sitting on the ground, he couldn’t hold back the tears by then and he desperately tried to wipe them away with his hands. He just wanted his sister.

 

The sound of his sobs was interrupted quickly though, by a gunshot.

 

* * *

 

Cullen bolted upright yelling “Where’s Harper?!” Sweat was running down his face, tears welled up in his eyes.

 

The hospital room he was in was fairly empty at this point, the only person waiting in it was Bruce who looked surprised by the sudden waking but collected himself quickly. Cullen, just take some deep breaths, you're okay now,”

 

Cullen took some breaths like Bruce told him to and took in the room at large and his own state of body, he was in a hospital room, he was covered in bandages over his upper right chest. Bruce was sitting next to him and was the only other person in the room at the moment but he could see the shadow of a nurse outside the door through the glass on it. He turned to Bruce and in most serious voice he had ever heard come out of his mouth asked “Where is my sister?”

 

Bruce sat there, seemly not sure how to tell him something, he grabbed Bruce by the shoulders, he knew the look on his own face was probably somewhat disturbed but he didn’t care. Bruce sighed and put a hand on Cullens shoulder to comfort him “I’m  **_so_ ** sorry Cullen, but she is dead.”

 

The words lingered in the air like how tear gas would, making everybody uncomfortable and distressed. Cullen had already cried so much that day his eyes felt uncomfortably dry but tears still managed to stream down his face as he let out a loud sob.

 

He’d never see her again, she’d never be safe again, he knew he’d never be comfortable again.

 

Cullen got the chance to process the news before Bruce had more to tell him. At that point he had curled up in the hospital blankets, nobody knew all of what he had gone through, they’d only know what the doctors could have figured out, how he was beat up, how he was forced to hurt others, but not all of it, not even half of it.

 

Bruce cleared his throat getting Cullen’s attention, he peeked out of his blankets where Bruce was sitting grim faced, he had more news and honestly Cullen knew he didn’t want to hear it. “So you know, Stephanie is in the waiting room, everybody else has headed home, well everyone other than Jason and Damian who i need to find later,”

 

Cullen nodded in acknowledgement and Bruce continued “Stephanie can’t visit you though, we’re keeping the fact that you are Duke are okay under wraps,”

 

“Why?!” All Cullen wanted now was to at least be able to talk with Steph.

 

“I think the family has had a leak somewhere, i think one of us is at least helping the killer, so in order to keep you safe, they think you’re dead.”


	9. 09.Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey sorry this wasn't up on saturday i forgot to update this
> 
> (TW: manipulation)

The best witness to go to now according to Jason was Duela Dent and how to track down a lost clown girl who is recently a possible orphan? Pretty simple in Jason’s mind at least, she’d probably be outside of gotham by now with all that had happened so out of gotham he and Damian would head, besides it’d be nice to get away from the rest of the batfamily for a bit, the stress had been starting to get to him, and the exhaustion of the events of the day as well. He had forced himself and Damian to make a small pit stop for a 5 hour energy and that had kept him going since.

 

Damian had been pretty quiet since the pit stop, not that Jason minded. He seemed kinda down from the way he moved but it wasn’t like Jason could take a look at him as he had to keep his eyes on the road ahead. 

 

Damian seemed ready to talk though as Jason could hear over the sound of his bike Damian “I think i might have been really insensitive early at the waiting room, i should probably apologize shouldn’t i?” Damian didn’t seem sure of himself for once, in fact he sounded like a kid trying to get advice from his older brother which made some sense since that was exactly what was happening.

 

“Ehhh, it’s pretty pointless to go and say sorry, they either already understand you weren’t at your best and have forgiven you, or they just flat out won’t.” It was pretty advice born out of Jason’s personal biases but he thought it was just fine advice.

 

Damian went back to being quiet after that, seemly thinking about what Jason said. 

 

The two reached a gas stop and Damian went inside to go to the bathroom and get some gum or something, Jason didn’t ask. Meanwhile Jason was outside having just finished filling the tank, he moved away from where the gas was and lit a smoke, he had had a long day.

 

But before the fire reached the thin paper his phone rang, he put the light back in his pocket and looked at his phone, it was Dick, great  _ just _ want he needed.

 

“Hey Dick, what has you calling your  _ favorite _ brother?” Jason asked in jest.

 

“Where are you and Damian?”

 

“Well you’re cutting to the chase aren’t ya?”

 

“Okay yeah hi Jason,” He sounded unimpressed by Jason’s snark. “Anyways i’m not really in the mood for your,  _ stuff _ , so can you tell me where you two are?”

 

“Nah, people have such a thing as personal privacy, it’s a  _ wonderful _ thing where you don’t have to tell people everything about what your up to, maybe the batfam should learn about it.” Jason gestured with his free hand even though Dick couldn’t see him.

 

“Jason this really isn’t the time for your shit, Cullen and Duke they….. Didn’t make it and Bruce is going to flip if Damian isn’t home soon, we’re getting picked off so this isn’t the time to go running off by yourself.”

 

“Well i’m sorry about Cullen and Duke but that’s why we’re out here trying to find the perp behind it, besides it might be safer to not be in gotham right now.” Jason knew he had a point, none of the batfamily would be killed outside of gotham, those killings were attention grabbing for the batfam so doing it anywhere else would make it so much harder for the batfam to find and then what’s the point?

 

“You know you’re technically speaking kidnapping Damian, right?”

 

“And?”

 

“That’s illegal.” Jason had to stop himself from laughing at his brother but a stifled chuckle got out.

 

“Since when i did i start caring about the legality of stuff? Besides Damian came with me willingly.”

 

“That doesn’t matter in the eyes of the police Jason,”

 

“Oh are you threatening to call the police on me? Oh how scared i am of those fuckheads.” Jason mocked, even doing a fake scared face. He was probably scaring the other people at the gas stop but he didn’t care.

 

“No i’m not, i’m just trying to say that if this goes on too long Bruce might,” Dick sounded worried, had such genuine concern in his voice, but at this point Jason didn’t really care.

 

“Well that would blow, it’d be a real interruption to me and Dami’s brotherly search for a murderer, a real killjoy, really ruin the  _ fun _ of our road trip.” It wasn’t clear in Jason’s voice if he was being snarky or if the stress had really got to him. It wasn't even quite clear to himself.

 

“Jason, are you okay?”

 

“Oh i’ve  _ never _ been better.” His voice was dripping with his trademark snark. He then dropped it to explain “Look, Damian would be doing this either way, i thought it’d be better if he had some supervision.”

 

“You know it’d be better if you just took Damian home but okay, just don’t say i didn’t warn you if Bruce calls the cops on you,”

 

“I won’t, see you later.” Jason ended the call and pocketed his phone.

 

Dick seemed really worried and to be fair clown hunting was a dangerous sport but it wasn’t anything that Damian and Jason couldn’t handle, hell the both of them had a history of getting trained by assassins and/or deadly monks, nobody should want to mess with the two best  _ killers _ of the batfamily.

 

Damian came out of the store with a bottle of water in hand and came over to Jason. “Who were you talking to?” It seemed like Damian saw Jason talking on the phone through the window.

 

Jason thought it over for a moment, maybe it’d be a lot easier to get all this done without Damian knowing that Dick was  _ so _ worried. “Nobody important.” The lie felt sharp on the tongue but Jason just walked to his bike and Damian followed on.

 

The engine sparked to life and the two rode off.


	10. 10.Damian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Murder, Manipulation

It was two days later, the pair had track Duela down in Hub City. They were slaking out the area around where she had been staying, it was an old liquor store that had been closed down years ago and never reopened or sold. Hub city managed to be worse than gotham from what Damian could tell.

 

But that, nor what he was doing at the moment were at the forefront of his mind, at the forefront he was wondering why nobody had called him or even sent a text, not even Grayson who he had thought would have by now hadn't. He felt silly for worrying so much about it but deep down it got to him how nobody was showing any signs of worrying about him, even the person he was closest to in the family. 

 

But he had to snap out of that as Jason poked him in the rib and pointed at Duela who was leaving the building she had been in. Damian and Jason grappled their way to the roof of the building she had just left and jumped down behind her in complete silence, it was times like these that reminded Damian that Jason had once been a Robin trained by Batman to be sneaky.

 

“‘Sup?” Jason waved with the hand that he already had a gun in, Damian thought he was jumping the gun on that but too late to tell him off about it.

 

Duela whipped around and curtsied in a mocking manner “Hello boys,”

 

Damian stormed forward and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, putting a birdorang near her throat, he for a moment almost thought he heard laughter but that passed and he demanded “Where have you been for the past two weeks?! What have you been up to?”

 

“I’ve been traveling around outside of gotham for a few months and as for what i’ve been up to, just ask your big brother, i’ve been licking my wounds from fighting the titans for the past three weeks!” 

 

“You know, somehow i don’t buy it. A bunch of joker like shit has been going down and you always seem so preoccupied with trying to get daddy’s approvel, and now he’s not around to ignore you, you get to just pretend his smiling up at you from hell, have you been living up to your namesake? do you think he’s proud of you yet? ” Jason got closer himself and almost looked tempted to press his gun against her forehead.

 

“I don’t need to be sharing that with anybody,” Duela tried to pull away but Damian kept his hold on her strong, she wouldn’t get away.

 

“You know, the joker was always so proud of the shit he pulled, always would flaunt it right in your face, i get if maybe you’re not as confident as he is or as busy but it must be a real big let down for him,” Jason was clearly trying provote her into talking more but Damian couldn’t shake the feeling that he was enjoying himself.

 

“Yeah well just wait till you see what i’ve been up to!” It worked. “I can mess with you lot without you even realizing it! Just what till you see what i’ve got in store for batgi-”

 

*BANG*

 

The shot rang in Damian’s ear, he couldn’t hear anything but the ringing as Duela fell out of his grasp, bleeding on the ground, a shot firmly planted in her head by Jason who was standing just a few paces behind Damian who turned to his brother with a cold fury in his eyes.

 

The ringing stopped and he shouted “You just killed the only lead we had!!!” He marched toward right into Jason’s personal space pointing his finger right into his face risking pointing his eye out if it weren’t for the Red Hood mask. “You idiot!”

 

Jason put up his hands defensively “It was clear she’s the killer, better she’s dead now and can’t hurt anyone!” He threw his hands up and took a few steps back from Damian. “But i do need you to keep this between us, Batman would kick me out of the family again if he knew.”

 

Damian rubbed his temples and started to head into the store, Jason shouted after him “Hey where are you going?”

 

“To make sure there’s evidence that you didn’t just kill the wrong person.”

 

Damian searched the building top to bottom, his mind was still racing from what Jason had just done, Damian had seen death many times before and he had heard of the people Jason had killed before but those two things together just felt  _ wrong _ , the batfamily tried to keep him from seeing that kind of stuff when possible but Jason went right ahead and shot a woman in front of his face, in fact some of the blood had landed on him. The search did not turn up empty handed, on a table he found printed out blueprints for the funeral home as well as a map of the streets of gotham with 3rd ave marked in red.

She did it, but Damian couldn’t tell if he was okay with what Jason had done to her. Part of him knew someone like her wouldn’t change and that Barabara and Harper and maybe Duke and Cullen needed vengeance, but another part of him tried to explain that it was still wrong, that part of him sounded a lot like Dick and Jon but neither of them could help right now so Damian pushed that part of himself down.

 

* * *

 

They had found a motel for the night, Damian had huddled up his blankets, he stared at Jason who was just checking his phone, he seemed so carefree, like he didn’t shot someone earlier. The rooms mood was oddly casual and the tv was playing on low sound in the background, just some mindless action movie.

 

“Do you… Do you have any regrets about earlier?” He had to ask, Jason had a tendency to make stupid rash choices then come to regret them afterwards, and deep down he wanted to see if his brother could be resolved of some guilt for what happened.

 

“None, she got what she had coming and besides me and her had history, she tried to kill Roy and ruined our friendship for a while.” Jason sounded so matter of fact about it.

 

A few minutes passed, Damian guessed that that was fair enough and besides what was he doing expecting better from Todd. He mind had wandered back to the fact that nobody had called him over the past couple days.

 

“Hey can you think of any reason nobody has called me?”

 

“They all know how stubborn you are and how pointless it’d be to try to convince you to stop,” Jason had barely looked up from his phone as he answered.

 

Todd had a point but it did little to alleviate the fact that Damian felt forgotten about, like everybody was just  _ way _ too busy to give half a shit about his well being or safety. It kinda felt like a slap in the face frankly, a slap that would keep him up even as Jason drifted to sleep and the moon rose over the motel.

 

Damian had been up for maybe too long but he couldn’t sleep, everything just felt so off, so,  _ wrong _ . Moonlight streamed in through the blinds and were the only light in the room, till a buzzing noise interrupted Damian’s thoughts and made some light on Jason’s bed stand, he was getting a call.

 

Damian grabbed the phone and look wide eyed at the caller id, it was Dick. He rushed outside and picked up the call. 

 

Before he had got a chance to say anything at all though Dick had started his complaining, he sounded so tired as he said “Jason, where the fuck are you and Dami? Bruce is probably going to call the cops if this goes on one day longer.”

 

Damian was not used to hearing Grayson swear but he had bigger problems “Wait really? Grayson it’s Damian.”

 

“Oh thank god, i am so happy to hear from you! Are you okay? I’ve been worried sick since you blocked me two days ago,”

 

Wait what? Damian never blocked Dick, ever. Let alone two days ago. Then he realized Jason must have, he almost wanted to yell out Todd’s name like a supervillain cursing out their nemesis but that would probably wake Todd up “I didn’t do that…. Todd did.”

 

“Huh, weird.”

 

Damian knew he should probably tell Dick what had happened that day and he did, partly. “By the way me and Todd found evidence that Duela was behind what was going on, unfortunately she was dead when we found her.” It felt wrong to lie to Dick, but Todd had done what needed to be.

 

“Was she really did when you found her, or did somebody kill her?” Dick knew both him and Jason way too well to fall for that lie.

 

“Jason would have motive to kill her.”


	11. 11.Duela Dent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok so i keep forgetting to upload on the days i'm suppose to so fuck it i'll post the rest of the fic now  
> (TW: Death)

“I’m going to be killing the Gordon’s tomorrow,” Duela liked working with them, she got to be in on all the planing and wasn’t getting treated like a child.

 

“And how can i help?”

 

“I just need you to hold onto these papers and leave town on the day of the funeral.” They passed over a binder full of papers that must have had to do with their plans, she grabbed them excitedly.

 

“You know i’d love to not just be a glorified paper cabinet that can move right? I’m the joker’s daughter for crying out loud!”

 

“Don’t you worry, you have a large part to play, just wait and see,” They let out a familiar laugh, one that any person in gotham could tell was just like the joker’s.

 

Duela marched off with the flies under one of her arms,  _ i should be more involved! This is vengeance for my father, and this guy gets to be in charge of it! This is so unfair! _ She would kept her thought to herself though, she knew that without anything up her sleeve a fight between her and them would end with her dead. 

 

* * *

 

She was looking down her own death, Red Hood’s finger was on the trigger and nothing could get in the way of that fact. Ha what kind of part of a plan was thi- Wait a moment, she was the fall guy, it finally hit her, like a bullet through the hea-

 

*BANG*


	12. 12.Dick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Bombs

Dick had been having trouble sleeping since Jason had took Damian after the hospital incident, he had been worried sick and playing out what he should have done instead of resting, but considering everything else that had happened he wouldn’t be sleeping either way. It had been impossible though since last night, when he found out that Jason was the one that blocked everyone, not Damian, to sleep, they’d be back today and he couldn’t wait.

 

The porch didn’t always feel so empty but that morning it did, everybody was staying close to the house but also was shutting themselves off, Dick was pretty sure at least half his family was locked in one of the rooms of the far too large house, meanwhile the other half were seemly obsessed with finding the truth behind what happened and finding the killer, he wasn’t sure what category he fell into but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to figure that out, either would say something about himself that he would not want to hear, so silence on that matter was much better for him.

 

The familiar sound of a motorbike he knew well hit the silence killing it for the moment, it went from a far off quiet sound to a nearby roar in the matter of about a minute, stuff like that was why he preferred having a motorcycle instead of a car as nightwing, besides they were easier to move through traffic and if for some reason you needed to hop off that was tons easier too. 

 

The bike came into view carrying two of his younger brothers, Jason parked it near the stairs onto the porch and Damian hopped off. Jason however seemed to be staying on the bike.

 

Dick leaned on the railing of the porch as he asked. “You coming in or?” 

 

Jason sighed and looked up at him like an annoyed teenager, he turned his head upward so that he was _ just  _ looking at Dick. “Nah, i’m going now, if Bruce wants to yell at me or beat me up in some attempt to get me in line let him know i’d like to take rain check.”

 

He revved up the engine and was gone before Dick could get a word in edgewise about how Bruce wasn’t that mad and was more worried than anything else.  _ Oh well i guess he’ll assume what he’ll assume. _

 

Damian climbed up the stairs and stood next to Dick, he looked, distant to put it one way, he had seen things that he hadn't for awhile and Dick could only have nightmares about what. Dick pulled him into a hug, which Damian pulled away from quickly though Dick could tell that it was only due to the perceived weakness of needing one, as a compromise Dick put his arm around Damian instead, he seemed more willing to let that slide.

 

“So i talked with Todd about the blocking everybody on my phone thing,” Damian sounded… Well accuracy he was doing a pretty good job of lacking any emotion in his voice. Dick however knew that meant he was upset, he just didn’t feel ready and/or safe, to express that fact.

 

“How’d it go?” Dick pulled Damian closer to himself, it was what he knew Damian would let him do to comfort him.

 

“Badly, things got out of control and both he and i said somethings we may be starting to regret, he’s been in a bad mood since,”

 

Dick silently comforted his younger brother, they knew each well enough where they both knew what it meant and where Dick could be confident that Damian already knew what his thoughts on the matter were.  _ That’s just how Jason is sometimes, he can be a dick but he’s got his reasons. _

 

“I’m really glad you’re home,” Dick wanted to make sure that was clear to Damian, he must have had a really traumatic time considering the fact that the only thing Dick knew of what the past 4 days of Damian’s was that he most certainly saw Jason murder someone.

 

“I’m…” He went quiet, like if he spoke up some unseen monster would hear him. “Happy to be home.”

 

“So are you alright?”

 

“I… Guess, i didn’t get injured during the past few days so, yeah, i’m alright,”

 

“What about mentally?” Damian almost always neglected to tell anyone about that, but for a kid like him the importance of that rivaled the importance of his physical health.

 

“It wasn’t anything i couldn’t handle,” Dick had heard the tone he was using many times before when he was just acting on what he spent 10 years being taught, that he could have no pain without it being used against him.

 

“Well still, if you wanted to talk about it, let me know,”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Let’s head inside, Alfred has been waiting for you,”

 

“The cat, or the butler?”

 

“Both.”

 

Damian then looked like he had a sudden realization and asked deadpan. “Someone has been feeding my cat, right?”

 

Dick nodded his head.   
  


* * *

 

Damian had gotten welcomed home by Alfred and now it was time for him to say hi to Bruce, Dick had yet to explain anything he had learned that night to Bruce, he had no idea that Jason was the one that blocked everyone, that Jay and Dami probably found the killer, or that Jason had yet again broken his promise to the family to never kill again. Bruce had been in the batcave since early that morning and Dick didn’t know how to approach him with any of that info. So it all would have to come out now.

 

The sound of typing stopped as they entered the cave and Bruce looked over to see them. He got up from his seat and came over and give Damian a brief hug before beginning to share his thoughts on the past few days. 

 

“Damian i am glad to see you home,”

 

“I’m glad to be home,”

 

“I am however very disappointed, you ran off for days without contacting anybody after starting a fight in the waiting room. You even blocked everybody’s phones,” Dick knew that Bruce would be like this, he was always like this when something had went wrong, always so focused on fixing it or addressing it.

 

“I wasn’t the person who blocked everybody on my phone, Jason did without me knowing,” He said it stone faced.

 

Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, clearly wishing Jason didn’t do stuff like this, wishing that he was a better kid. Dick kinda wished the same, but Jason would do as Jason did, and that’d be constantly at this point pissing off everybody, even if they didn’t want to be pissed off at him, Dick knew that he didn’t but yet found himself here.

 

“I am going to be having a  _ very _ serious conversation with Jason once i find him,” Bruce’s anger at the events that had happened were clear in his tone.

 

Dick looked at Damian who seemed to be thinking about saying something, something that was hard to decide whether or not it needed to be said, it probably was about what Jason had done to Duela Dent, he was silent for a moment more but then Dick was sure he’d say something then. But his silence continued.

 

Then he did tell Bruce what he and Jason had found, and something that Dick knew that they hadn’t, an already dead Duela was part of the story. Damian was covering both Jason, and his own tracks in regards to that it seemed. Dick stayed silent throughout it all.

 

Heading back up to his guest room he had to wonder to himself why he said nothing, he knew what happened and be all rights should be headed right back down to the cave to give Bruce the 411 on what truly happened but he wasn’t, he was opening the door to his room. Maybe it was worry that Damian would get caught in the blast zone of Bruce’s surefire anger at Jason, maybe he didn’t want to see the family fighting so soon after everything that had happened, before Duke or Cullen had even gotten funerals, or maybe he didn’t want Jason to yet again be alienated be the only people he could turn to if he ever tried to deal with his problems, alienated by his family. Dick couldn’t help but feel almost bad for him, he died, got brought back by a super villain, spent a year basically alone still as a teenager, then had spent the rest of his time with the batfamily in and out of the welcome group of it.

 

* * *

 

It was the next day, he and Tim had went to the Gordon’s house, it could finally be cleaned out. The nightmare was over now. 

 

They were in Barbara’s bedroom, Dick was suppose to be putting her old clothes in bags to donate to either homeless shelters if they were practical for that or thrift stores if they weren’t, but he was just holding up a dress had yet to see her wear, he tried to imagine what she would have looked in it, but all he could figure was that it would have been beautiful, but it wasn’t something his mind could envision. 

 

In the background both of them could hear the police scanner on her computer come up and start playing with text on screen saying “Trigger word said, replaying audio” It looked like she had a system set up so she wouldn’t miss anything important.

 

“Harvey just collapsed at the starbucks we were at, code 10-54, possible poison,” The person on the other end started to rattle off an address.

 

Dick and Tim turned to each other, they both knew a code 10-54 was a possible dead body.

 

Both of them rushed out of the apartment in costume and drove to the address as fast as they could, they both needed to know if this was something else or for Dick at least, that Jason got the wrong person.

 

They hopped off their ride in front of the building, it almost looked like a normal day if it weren’t for the amount of people on their cell phones calling 911 for the clearly already dead man the two could see through the window.

 

But they didn’t really get a chance to proces-

 

*BOOM*


	13. 13.Bruce

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, References To A Bombing

Bruce sat hunched over his desk, the killer might have been found but for him, the work was never done. He tracking down leads from what Cullen told him of what happened to him, how did that person in the bathroom die? Who hired that gang that beat up Cullen? The blue light was harsh against his face, but he was used to it.

 

His mind couldn’t help but wonder of a brief moment, he still needed to find Jason, he felt almost sure that Damian and Dick were hiding something from him, Stephanie was certainly traumatized from everything that had happened and would need help over the coming months, and he had to inform the family that Cullen and Duke were in fact alive, not dead like they had been lead to believe. 

 

But before he could lead his thought back to where they should have been that batcomputer flashed up the screen for an urgent call, but instead of one, there were three coming in according to the screen. One from Tim Drake, one from Wayne Tech, and one from Damian.

 

He trusted that Tim and Damian could wait a minute, they were both trained how to, so he picked up the wayne tech one first.

 

“We’ve had a likely code black, Mr. Fox and his son were in his office and someone just saw that there was gas coming out of the door, we’ve determined it is probably poison and 911 was already called,”

 

Bruce sat there wide eyed for a moment, none of it was over and now one of the people top of the list of friends was probably lying dead with his son beside him. But there were other crisis and there wasn’t anything he could do at the moment, he gave a nod of acknowledgement and ended the call.

 

Picking which of his sons he’d answer first wasn’t something that he liked but he had to, Damian was capable of handling himself more so than Tim, it was only by a slim margin but in an emergency those slim margins mattered.

 

“Br-Batman we have an incident at 6th ave, blown up starbucks and a dead Harvey Bullock, me and Nightwing are handling it.” He hung up, it was an info call, clear as that and he knew that it was a problem Bruce could follow on the news if he needed to.

 

Bruce answered the last of the calls, it was from Damian communicator and as such the screen turned on what the camera on his end could see, which would be nothing but an inky blackness, the camera was facing the ground. Even more worrying was the distinct sounds of a fight, grunts, steel clattering to the ground, a thud.

 

Bruce was already working on tracking down where this was when it went silent for a moment, the fight had ended and Bruce could only hope Damian had won, the communicator was picked up, the person keeping their hand over the camera and he laughed, he laughed a sickening laugh that made Bruce feel like he had just fallen through the ice on a lake. It was a joker like laugh.

 

The call ended but before that even Bruce had gotten up and was suiting up, o much to do and so little time but he could only focus on one thing at a time and Damian needed him. His son needed him.


	14. 14.Cullen

He couldn’t just lie there forever, he wanted to see his sister. It had been days since he was told what happened but he had yet to see her. He knew Bruce would be mad but he had sneaked out of the hospital and sat on the bench for a bus. He was headed for the gcp building.

 

But as he sat there he couldn’t help but think of how everything went so nuts right after the joker’s death, it only took what? A week afterwards for things to go to shit. Maybe there was a reason, maybe that was the cause?

 

But before he could question that further, the bus drove up.

 

* * *

 

Seeing her body was awful, she looked so peaceful but the slashes through her cheeks that carved a smile it was impossible to think she died in any sort of peace. He could feel tears well up in his eyes. He just wanted to hear her voice one last time, but he knew he wouldn’t.

 

But this did set something in stone for him, this was due to the joker’s death. That clown would haunt gotham till the day the world came down in a fire. But that also meant there were leads. He had yet to be told about Duela, he had yet to hear that lie.

 

He came out of the building hearing murmurs from the officers about a starbucks getting blown up about 45 minutes ago, he was ready to go back to the hospital and wait for when Bruce would come by to check up on him and Duke. But out the corner of his eye he saw Jason getting off his bike, and he can see that Jason just saw him as well. He was suppose to not let anything like what just happened happen but what could the harm be?

 

He went over and waved, “Hey,”

 

Jason blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t just seeing things then asked “Am i in the sixth sense or are you alive?”

 

“Yeah, surprise i’ve been alive the whole time,” Cullen did fake, tired looking, jazz hands to match his joy in this revel. 

 

Jason put his hands on his hips “ _ Huh _ , what about Duke? Did he  _ also _ luck out?”

 

“Yup,” Cullen thought for a moment, he should let the batfamily know what he had figured out as soon as possible. “Hey actually, could you help me find Tim? I need to talk to him.”

 

Jason seemed to think it over for a moment before nodding “Sure, get on,”

 

Cullen did and for a few minutes neither talked, but Cullen felt he should share what he had figured then “I think all of what’s been happening has to do with the joker’s death, i mean like, he suddenly dies and then all this awful stuff happens? That can’t be coincidence, i think his death sparked something.”

 

Jason tilted his back just a bit “Yeah i agree, i think it might have sparked something in the guy who killed him.” 

 

Cullen couldn’t see his face but the sense of creeping dread since swept through him, especially when he realized they were not headed towards Tim’s apartment.


	15. 15.Duke

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Drugging, Fear Toxin, Hospitals, Stabbings

That evening.

 

His vision was hazy as he woke up from a nap, his skin was soaked with sweat with his hospital clothes clinging to him, he could almost make out yelling in the distance, but about what, he could not tell. He looked around his darkened room, it felt like there was a fog blanketing the room but as far as he could tell there wasn’t, the shadows from the flowers next to his bed for a moment looked like something hanging but then he realized what it was.

 

He crept out of bed and to the door, *creek* it went as he opened it. The hall was dark and he couldn’t see to the end of it. He could hear in the background a sound he had wished he’d never hear again.

 

Mad, maniacal, laughter in the voices of his parents.

 

He froze up as he heard it, the hairs on his neck sky rocking. His eyes wide as he scanned the hall, all he could see were an empty stretcher, a wheelchair tucked off to the side, a knocked over plant, and at one end of the hall a door.

 

The intercom turned on and he could hear a man ask “Do their laughs haunt your dreams Duke? I have to wonder how many happy memories are tainted by their laughter, their joy?”

 

Duke looked frantically around, and yelled “What is happening?!”

 

“You know, you’re just another of his fixer uppers, one that will die and be reborn shaped by his pain. The bats of this city, all they know is pain.”

 

“That isn’t true!!” Duke didn’t even stop to ask how the voice knew who he was, he was too caught up in the flood of emotion running through him. His eyes were tearing up and his lip trembling.

 

“Oh isn’t it? Let’s list them all out, let’s see, Dick watched his parents die right in front of him and was only taken in so he wouldn’t end up like Bruce, Jason grew up in the slums of gotham and died, Tim found his dad murdered, Barbara was shot by the joker and then had her dad kidnapped, Steph had a criminal for a father, Cass was trained to kill, Kate saw the dead bodies of her mom and sister, Damian was also trained to kill, Harper had a shit father, and of course Bruce had his parents killed right in front of him as a child, poor kid. And you, you had your poor, poor parents, exposed to joker's toxin in a scheme to get to Bruce, that couldn’t have been fun. Welp i need to get going, kid, but i hope you enjoy some company.”

 

Duke looked behind him at the door and saw a woman, one that looked an awful lot like his mother, she had a knife in her hand and she came running at him, screaming something about a monster.

 

There was a sharp sudden pain in his side and all her could hear was cackling.


	16. 16.Dick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Fighting, Stabbing

2 hours after the starbucks blew up, and two hours before duke would be drugged and stabbed.

 

He had split up from Tim, he had gotten a call for help from an unlikely source, Becky Albright, a woman that Scarecrow would herass from time to time had called him after she was kidnapped. He had given her his number in case of something like that. But what he had heard on the other of the call was gunshots, a lot of them.

 

He had rushed to Scarecrow’s base, he was never great at hiding them. But when he got there he was met with an unfortunate sight, Jonathan Crane laid dead on the ground as some goons carried out his fear toxin.

 

But worse than that was the man shouting orders at them, a man in an outfit seemly inspired by The Joker, a man that Dick would call his brother, Jason.

 

The resolution to who the killer was, was less than great to say the fucking least.  _ How did this happen? Why? When? How could he? Why would he? He knows who everyone is, who will he go after next? _

 

But as Dick’s mind raced with questions and his worst fears were spiraling waiting to get to the forefront of his mind. He heard a throat being cleared, it was Jason’s who was looking up at where he was hiding. It was a typical spot for a bat to hide.

 

“Hey there Dick,” His voice almost sounded like poison, it was too cocky, too happy about what was happening around him, “You’re a little, and by a little i mean a lot, early on figuring this out, but i guess that’s just how the cookie crumbles,” He sounded disappointed, like he had been getting a kick out this being a secret.

 

Dick couldn’t help but mad at Jason, he did so much and his attitude was so flippant in the face being found out, like someone caught wrapping the presents. He jumped down and marched over to Jason who waved his goons away from the two, Dick’s fist was clenched. “Why have you BEEN DOING ALL THIS??!!?”

 

Jason chuckled and gave a half smile “Well, frankly i had had enough of joker destroying the city, ruining people, killing people, so i tracked the bastard down, and i shot him, i shot him till not even Harley freaking Quinn would recognize him,”

 

Dick grabbed Jason by the collar of his jacket, lifting him an inch or two off the floor, Dick could almost feel his fingernails he was holding on so tight. “THAT THIS EXPLAIN SHIT! Why have you been killing us? WHY HAVE YOU BEEN KILLING YOUR FAMILY??!?!”

 

Jason’s smile only widened, it was a maniacal grin, the cheshire cat would have a hard time beating it. “Hold on a minute Dick, i wasn’t done,” He booped Dick on the nose tauntingly. “Anyways, Joker had one last trick up his sleeve, well more like bloodstream, when i killed him a toxin came out of him, like a gas, one that has made me ‘slowly’ like this, it’s widen my viewpoint so to speak,”

 

Dick’s eyes went wide, his mouth agasp. “You’re becoming like him…”

 

Jason’s hands went for his throat for a moment before he managed to push them off with his shoulders leaving Jason to only hiss “Don’t you DARE say i’m becoming like him, Ever.”

 

“You should have told us about what happened, we would have helped! Maybe we still could!” The idea that Jason had been drugged into becoming something right out of his nightmares was just a fundamentally horrifying thought, Dick had to wonder if Jason was still there deep down, and whether or not it’d be better if he was.

 

Jason chuckled “I didn’t realize what was happening at first, i just thought maybe i was letting lose after so long, by the time i did realize  _ anything _ was wrong, i didn’t want it to stop, i wanted it, it’s a lot funner to be like this than all depressed about shit from years ago, besides, when had the batfamily ever done any good for me before?”

 

“Plenty of times! We cared about you, you asshole!” Dick had some tears welling up in the corner of his eyes, he couldn’t help it.

 

“Oh? Like that time i got killed due to them? Or maybe when i got kicked out and constantly antagonized while trying to deal with the trauma from dying as a fucking 15 year old? Oh or did you mean that time you got me sent to arkham?  It was a real fun time being locked up like one of the goddamn criminals i got recruited into the war against! I want to make the bat burn, and the batfamily, we’ll be the kindling,”

 

Dick searched  Jason ’s eyes for anything, anything that might mean he was still there. But all that was there was malice, insanity, and a sickening glee. The man in front of him was a husk of Jason, a husk that had killed his friends, tried to isolate Damian from the rest of them, wanted to ruin the family. He couldn't let that happen, he had to fight, he had to take down this husk, this needed to end, now.

 

He slammed his head forward into  Jason ’s, he went reeling back probably starting to regret the lack of a helmet on the costume he was wearing. He pulled out a switchblade from a pocket and Dick pulled out his two escrima sticks. 

 

The crowd of  ~~ Jason ~~ ’s new gang start to circle in on Dick, but Jason waved them away saying. “Leave him to me, this is  _ family _ business.”

 

They circled each other, waiting for the other to ponce, Dick waved two of his fingers toward himself “Come ‘and get it.”

 

~~Jason~~ took the bait coming charging looking to stab Dick in the gut, Dick vaulted over ~~Jason~~ wacking him in the back with his sticks in the process and disorienting him. He wiped around ad threw the knife in his hand, it sliced Dick’s side, he could feel the warm trickle of blood start from his new wound.

 

Dick rushed forward ready to whack him a few more times, the first hit landed making  ~~ Jason ~~ grunt in pain, but the second didn’t as ~~Jason~~ grabbed it and pulled Dick forward right into his elbow, that would brui- ~~Jason~~ slammed his head forward into Dicks, Dick fell back a few paces head spinning from the hit.  ~~ Jason ~~ lept forward hitting Dick in the jaw with his elbow then grabbing him and forcing him face first into his knee.

 

Blood was now running down Dick’s face, he wiped off and did and a sweeping kick, knocking  Jason to the ground, he scrambled on top and as Jason faced him with glee in his face Dick brought his fist down into his face, and again, again, again, again,  _ this is for all them, Duke, Cullen, Harper, Barbara _ . Blood started to run out ~~Jason~~ ’s nose and the bruising was starting to form, Dick’s fist felt like it had split itself open from the punching.

 

~~ Jason ~~ cackled and then Dick felt a punch in his gut, and then another one and another one but the worse was the look on  ~~ Jason ~~ ’s face, maniacal glee. His vision blurred around the edges. He looked down and saw blood coming out of him landing on  ~~ Jason ~~ ’s jacket.

 

He buckled underneath his own weight and landed on  ~~ Jason ~~ who just pushed him off to the side, he saw his brother get up and look down on him. “Don’t worry Dick, i won’t let you bleed out here, you’ll be ehhh about the third person to die, so just you wait.”

 

The world went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything starting to make more sense now? Also surprise it's been jason this whole time


	17. 17.Tim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Death, Fighting

Bruce was looking for his son, Damian. Kate was looking into a hospital where a patient and nurse were gassed with fear gas. And on request from Bruce Tim was looking for Cullen, who only a few hours ago he thought was dead. If it were any other day of any other week he’d have something to say about that, but with everything that was happening there simply was no time to talk about that.

 

He walked up the front desk of the GCPD and asked if they had seen Cullen and if so if he was with anyone, this made sense as the first place he would have went, he would have wanted to see Harper’s body. They told him that Cullen left with a man that matched Jason’s description.

 

_ Strange. _

 

He headed to the cave, if he wanted to track down Jason’s bike he’d need to check the bat computer. Cass was training when he came in and he chatted with her as he got the local from the computer. He did wish he could stay and talk with her more but he needed to find Cullen.

 

He rode to where it was, the only road near where it was should have been a tip off but he still went up the steep hill near wayne manor. Night had fallen on the city and from where he was standing for just a moment gotham looked peaceful, but then he looked at the road ahead and saw some of the safety barrier was destroyed, shit.

 

He rushed over to investigate, he looked down the hill and at the foot of it, at the edge of woods, was the bike and what looked like a person. He slide down the side of the hill and ran over to the body and turned it over.

 

It was Cullen, bruised and blooded from the crash and landing, small shallow cuts were on his face and hands and arms. He must have tried to fight the driver of the bike. He must hav-

 

Jason did this. Tim felt like the world zoomed out for a moment and then zoomed right back in far too close for comfort. It was right under his nose the whole time, damn it!

 

He pulled out his communicator from his pocket and started to dial up everyone but Jason whe-

 

*BANG*

 

His hand was shot. He turned to where he was shot and saw The Red Hood, Jason leaning against a tree, gun in hand. He chuckles in a familiar way before saying “I’ve been following you since you left the cave ‘ya know?”

 

Tim threw a birdorang right at him, it missed by a hair and Jason retaliated by shooting at him. He threw himself aside hitting a tree by mistake before getting out his collapsible bo staff. He weaved his way to Jason and whacked him across the head.

 

Jason threw himself at Tim who blocked with the staff, the impact knocked the first gun out of Jason’s hand but he still had another in his holster. Tim took the chance to hit some hits in, *pow* *pow*. Jason grunted from the pain. And then went in with a kick, Tim blocked it with the staff but he could hear a cracking noise. And it snapped.

 

Fine then he could mang- Before he could adjust himself a second kick landed in his gut knock him back into another tree. He was sure they’d be plenty of small cuts on the back his head to clean up later but first he needed to make it out of this alive. He threw one half of his bo staff at Jason hitting him in the face and as he tried to catch himself Tim followed up with a kick to his knee. There was a thud and Jason fell to the ground, Tim found himself gasping for some air now that there was even a moment to breath.

 

But Jason scrambled towards him and knocked him to the ground as well and climbed on top of him. His fist met Tim’s face, it wasn’t too hard, but then it happened again and again, at one point it made him bite his own tongue the irony taste flooded his mouth. Then Jason lightened up for a moment and grabbed something from his thigh. A handgun was pressed against his head.

 

*BANG*


	18. 18.Cass

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Fighting, Guns, Stuff Is Blown Up

This might have been the most important knife throw of her life, and more importantly of Tim’s life. It flew through the air, Cass keeping track of where it would hit. All she needed was for it to hit his hand, hit his hand and she’d get to see Tim breath tomorrow, hit his hand she got to keep one of her brothers.

 

“OWW!” *BANG* The shot missed Tim and went in to the damp dirt and moss. Tim surely just lost hearing in the ear next to the gun but he was still breathing. She threw three more knives and cried “TIM RUN!”

 

One of the blades found it’s way into Jason’s arm while the rest made soft thuds as they fell to the earth. Jason got up and looked at her, she couldn’t see his eyes but she didn’t need to. The way he carried himself, his slouch, it was like the joker’s and it wasn’t fearful, it was excited. 

 

She threw a smoke screen down on the ground in front of Jason. It went off giving her and Tim cover, she sneaked behind Jason and threw more knives and in the fray of them a tracker, just in case he got away. She heard a yelp of pain, at least one them hit, perfect.

He jabbed at the air around him with a knife and got lucky. Cass felt the hit and pulled away at fast as she could and rammed forward pushing him hard against a tree, it shoke making some of the leaves fall on the two of them as he wiped around a swiped at her with the knife. The smoke had cleared and Tim was nowhere to be seen, a tiny smile made it’s way to the corner of her lip. 

 

Jason looked around widely before swearing under his breath and trying to push forward to find Tim. Cass pushed him right back against the tree with her arm against his trout, and with her free hand she grabbed a flash bang and pulled the pin and then she leapt back and tossed it at Jason.

 

“Fuck!” She squeezed her eyes shut for just a moment as he was blinded by the light.

 

She threw even more knives at her brother, some blood was trickling down his arm where she had already hit him. He rushed forward blindly and she pulled back but it was a fake out as half way through his charge he shot even more blindly in her general direction. Thank god he missed but that was too close for comfort.

 

Both of their communicators went off with an alarm neither had heard before. The emergency call. Cass started to bolt as both of their communicators turned the call on.

 

Tim’s voice, tired and ragged was heard on the other end “Jason is the killer, he killed cullen and he killed the others and he’s trying to kill cass,”

 

She jumped over a fallen log.

 

“He’s been picking us off one by one. I don’t know why yet-”

 

“Joker Something!” Cass shouted in hopes it’d be heard.

 

“Okay something joker related, not sure what exactly.”

 

She grabbed roots and branches and bushes and started to climb the hill.

 

“Anyways he is right now in his red hood outfit and has already lost one gun-”

 

“SHUT UP,” Cass could hear both over the channel and behind her.

 

A click sound went over the channel which Cass would guess was Jason being muted.

 

She grabbed the remains of a road guard that got crashed into and started running up the road. She heard gun shots behind her but wouldn’t dare look back, the manor was just in view, if she could get there she’d be okay.

 

“Be on high alert,” Tim turned off the call.

 

Cass climbed over the fence, no way she’d die waiting at the gate. Jason was right behind her. She vaulted over the fountain and threw herself through the front door with Jason right behind her. 

 

In front of them was Tim, Bruce, Kate, Ace, and Alfred, all of whom looked ready to fight Jason. Alfred had his rifle in hand, Ace growled at the boy Cass knew he had spent a lot of time in the lap of, Kate, Tim, and Bruce were all in costume.

 

She watched Jason sigh and take off his mask. He let out a cackle “Whelp i’m screwed aren’t i? This really hasn’t gone my way, from Dick finding out too early and now this, it’s enough to make a man want to toss in the towel. But!” He raised a finger, everyone looked tense and Alfred raised his gun. “Betcha didn’t plan for this.”

 

He pulled out a detonator, the kind with the red button that you always see in the movies. He must have had a back plan, he must of rigged the house in case something like this happened. She could see him going to press it, she threw herself for the door, if she died here no one would ever find Damian, or Dick, she couldn’t let that happen.

 

But she did look back as she ran. She saw Bruce throw a batarang aimed for Jason’s hand, Tim threw a bola at Jason’s feet, Kate pulled out her batclaw and shot it at the detonator, Ace ran forward ready to tackle Jason, and Alfred lined up a shot with tears in his eyes.

 

The night air hit her face and she heard a deafening sound and felt the blast of hot air behind her.

 

*BOOM*


	19. 19.Damian

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Kidnapping

He had been locked in a room of one Jason’s old bases, this one right near a police headquarters. His head felt foggy from the drugs Jason had put in him to try and make sure he wouldn’t get out. He looked over at Dick who was about in the same boat, just with far more bandaging on him.

 

“I’m sure Tim will at least figure out what happened,” They had been talking about the likelihood of being found.

 

“He’ll fall for at least one trap, if Father hasn’t figured it out i have my doubts Drake will.” 

 

“Tim’s smarter than you give him credit for,”

 

“Sure he is,”

 

It was nice to at least have some sort of normal conversation, even if nothing else about the situation was at all normal.

 

They both heard the entrance creek, Jason was back, and he was cackling in a horse tone, making grunts in between. Whatever happened he was in a lot of pain. They both went over to the door so they could hear better, they had an unspoken thing of spying on Jason. They could hear a case being opened and what sounded like fabric being cut, probably bandaging.

 

They listened awhile longer, but they head nothing and surely he’d be asleep by now.”

 

“So let’s get back to work on figuring out how we are getting out of here,” Damian had to just try and focus on that.

 

“Alright.”

 

They ran out of ideas though and soon after out of energy. They both fell asleep. Damians dreams were haunted by his dad ending up like Jason or dying in front of him.

 

Then the morning came, the was a loud bang on the door waking both of them with a start

 

“I’ve got some exciting news!”


	20. 20.The Joker

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Jokerfication

He had failed here a year ago, Bruce died before being broken, he died a sane man. It was such a shame his plan went so wrong but at least there were a few up sides. Like the fact that he didn’t have to kill Damian or Dick, their deaths would have been pointless. So he instead made them his sidekicks. Jester and Robin, he wasn’t quite sure why Damian wanted to keep that title but why not let him have it?

 

They had came to the Wayne graveyard, a year ago their family all died and they were set free from their expectations.

 

Dick leaned against one of the angel statues littered around the yard, it took some convincing to get him here in the first place. “How long are we staying?”

 

“Oh just a little bit, i want to gloat at Bruce’s grave,” He chuckled.

 

“Alright Jay.”

 

Only Dick or Damian were aloud to call him that, or call him Jason. To the rest of the world though he was the joker plain and simple. But some part of him jumped whenever he heard those two call him by his name, like someone hearing a ghost of a loved one.

 

Damian approached Bruce’s grave, he had brought flowers, Joker wasn’t quite sure if he was over what happened but considering the hard time the boy was having from snorting it was probably fine.

 

“Let it out,” Jason firmly patted him on the back, a few almost painful laughs came out. “Good, good.”

 

Once Damian had backed away from the grave Joker approached it, “You know Bruce? You failed, you failed as a hero and you failed as a parent and now you get to watch us burn from up above,” Jason mockingly looked up at the clouds. “Hope you’re having fun up there,” He waved then turned to his teammates “So gotham has just been the beginning,” they both perked up. “I’ve got  _ big _ plans for some other cities, it’s time to paint this world with a smile.” He gave a grin and for a reason he couldn’t place a tear welled up in his eye and he couldn’t help but feel like a fake.


	21. 0.Orphen

She stalked them from the shadows. Watched them mock the grave of their father.

 

_ I don’t want to fight you three, i hope deep down you all know that. But i have to now, i have to protect people, that’s what i do and you three have ended up hurting everyone. I’m sorry brothers, Dick, Damian, Jason… I wish i got more time with you three before this, but i guess it’s too late for that, too late for anything other than to act. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yup there will be a sequel, don't ask when though as i haven't even started the outline yet though i can tell you it'll focus on Cass, Jean Paul, Luke, Duke, And Helena, basically the batfam that Jason forgot about lol

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you liked it i'd love a kudos or a comment, they are both very encouraging and writing takes a lot out of a person <3


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